Antigua and Barbuda / Special Interests / Culture & Heritage

Antigua is no stranger when it comes to attracting visitors to its shores. The first ones arrived more than 4,500 years ago, leaving pottery and a name by which the island (and its beer) is still known -Wadadli (originally Waladli). The Arawaks and the Carib Indians came first, but the island’s most famous early visitor was Christopher Columbus who christened it Santa Maria de la Antigua in 1493. However, it wasn’t until 1625 that the British colonised the island and, because of its strategic value and excellent harbours, it was one of the three most important British naval bases in the West Indies, becoming one of the most heavily fortified places on earth. Numerous abandoned forts can still be seen, with the most famous area being Nelson’s Dockyard, named after the renowned admiral based there as a young man in the 1780s.

During the 18th Century, Antigua was dominated by sugar plantations growing the “white gold”, and many of today’s population are descendants of the African slaves brought to work the plantations. In common with other Caribbean islands, music plays a strong part in Antiguan life with the annual carnival celebrating the freedom granted to slaves in 1834, but Antiguans are also devoted cricket fans – a throwback to British colonial rule.

The island’s maritime past also lives on, albeit in a different form as Antigua is now famous as one of the world’s top sailing spots. Its smaller and quieter sister island Barbuda, settled by Europeans in the 1660s, was leased from the British crown by the Codrington family who were linked to the island for 200 years, Their name remains in Barbuda’s only town, the lagoon and the tiny airport.